lEISH EACOX.J 



PIGS, 



[lEISH BACON'. 



roinul at the hough, the flesh scraped upwards 

 off the bone, and off the shoulder-blade, which 

 is taken out quite bare under the side. The 

 saw is then run along the ribs, so as to crack 

 them, when they will lie quite flat. The pig 

 is then divided straight up the bade, and the 

 sides are ready for salting ; the ham still 

 remaining in. This is the method usually 

 practised in the county of Wicklow. When the 

 sides are ready for salting, they are well 

 rubbed on the rind side, and the space from 

 which the shoulder-blade was taken out is 

 filled with salt. The sides are then laid singly 

 upon a flagged floor, and salt is shaken over 

 them. In a day, or two days, if the weather 

 is cold, they must be again salted in the same 

 manner; but now two sides may be put to- 

 gether, and povi'dered saltpetre shaken over 

 them, in tlie proportion of about two ounces 

 to each side, if of average bacon size. After 

 three or four days, the sides are to be again 

 changed, the shanks of the ham rubbed, 

 the salt stirred, a little fresh salt shaken 

 over them, and Ave or six sides may now be 

 placed over each other. The sides may then 

 be left thus for a week, when they may be 

 piled one above the other, to the number of 

 ten or twenty, if there liave been so many 

 pigs killed. Leave them so for above three 

 weeks, until they get firm. They may then 

 be considered cured, and will Iceep so for six 

 or eight months, or according to pleasure. 

 AVhen required for use, or for market, the sides 

 are taken out of the salt, and well swept and 

 cleaned ; the ham taken out, hung up, and 

 dried with turf. If a brown colour is desired, 

 a little sawdust of hard wood may be thrown 

 over the turf. ,If hung up in a kitchen where 

 turf is burned, and suflered to remain, not too 

 near the fire, the same effect will be produced ; 

 and if the bacon has been well cured in salt, 

 it will be excellent. The Belfast and Limerick 

 methods of cutting differ from what I have 

 described, inasmuch as the hip-bones are left 

 m, and the liams are cut out while the pig is 

 fresh, and cured separately. In some cases, 

 also, the ribs are taken out of tlie sides ; and, 

 in Belfast, the shoulder-blade is taken out over 

 tlie side. Both the Belfast and Limerick 

 liasiis are cured in the same mild manner; 

 they are, as I have stated, cut out of the pig 

 when fresh, cured separately, and only left a 

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sufiicient time to be cured, and no more. 

 They are not suffered to become too salfij — a 

 fault sometimes perceptible in the Wicklow 

 hams. The Limerick and Belfast curers also 

 make up diflerent other portions of the pin' 

 separately, as long sides, middles, and o'olls, for 

 the English market. Sometimes the ribs are 

 taken out, and sometimes not, according to 

 the market for which they are intended. 

 Limerick, Belfast, Wicklow, and Waterford, 

 are the principal curing districts of Ireland. 

 The Wicklow method, first described, is that 

 in use in all counties of Ireland which prepare 

 their bacon for the Dublin markets. The 

 bacon, when cured, is then consigned to fac- 

 tors in Spitalfields, and sold on commission to 

 the provision-dealers of Dublin. Limerick 

 and Belfast haras are cured in the following 

 manner. They are, as I have said, cut fresh 

 from the pig, with the hip-bones left in them, 

 and are placed on a flagged floor, the front of 

 the second ham resting upon the shank of the 

 first, and so on until all are placed ; they are 

 then sprinkled with strong pickle from a 

 watering-pot, and a small quantity of salt is 

 shaken over them. Next day the haras are 

 taken up, well rubbed with salt, and laid down 

 as before, when saltpetre is shaken over them 

 in quantities proportionate to their size ; they 

 are left so for two days, and then taken up and 

 rubbed as before, when they are laid down 

 again, according to the space they have to fill 

 — from three to six hams in height, with layers 

 of salt between. After six days, the hams are 

 reversed in the piles ; that is, those that were 

 packed on the top are put at the bottom. 

 They then remain for six days longer in the 

 pile, when they are considered cured. After 

 this, they are taken up and washed, and hung 

 up to dry in the air. When it is intended to 

 smoke them, they are placed in a house made 

 for that purpose, and smoked — in Bellast, with 

 wheaten straw and sawdust ; in Limerick, 

 with peat or turf." 



Curing hacon for the navy is differently per- 

 formed from ordinary salting. A little more 

 skill is exercised in cutting up the pig into 

 pieces of as nearly equal size as possible ; 

 when a combination of salt and saltpetre dis- 

 solved in water, and almost in a saturated 

 solution, is placed in the curing-tub, and there 

 allowed to remain from three to four weeks. 



